Kanu suspends Nick Salat over claims of misconduct

The Kenya African National Union (KANU) has suspended Secretary General Nick Salat over alleged misconduct and violation of party constitution.

In a letter by Kanu National Chairman Gideon Moi communicating the decision by the party’s National Executive Council (NEC), Mr Salat stands suspended as the party’s disciplinary committee expedites disciplinary proceedings against him.

The committee has 30 days to finalize the matter.

“This is to notify you that in the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on December 15, several complaints on your conduct and violation of the party constitution were placed before members for discussion.”

“While noting that the complaints on their face appeared serious, the jurisdiction to deal with matters constituting disciplinary measures lies with the disciplinary committee created under Article 34 of the constitution,” reads Mr Moi’s letter in part to Mr Salat.

He adds that in exercise of the NEC’s mandate under Article 15 of the Constitution, the committee resolved to refer the matter to the disciplinary committee “as provided under Article 7.2 (a) (iii) of the constitution.”

Mr Salat however, declared the suspension “null and void,” insisting that Mr Moi has no such mandate.

He said the purported NEC meeting never made any recommendations to suspend him.

“Both Chairman and I are serving on interim basis, where does he get such powers to suspend me?” Mr Salat posed.

The official had been at logger heads with the Raila Odinga-led Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition party leadership, where Mr Moi also serves as Council member.

In a recent interview, Mr Salat said that the party feels left out on key issues in the alliance and would not be part of Mr Odinga’s planned rallies to push President William Ruto’s government to deliver on its pre-election pledges.

“We will not support that. We would love to but our treatment in the coalition does not allow us to do that,” Mr Salat said.

“We are looking at redefining our relationship with Azimio. When it comes to inclusivity, the coalition only considers the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and Wiper.”

He said Kanu had organised a retreat with its elected leaders in Nakuru where its membership in Azimio would be the theme.

“The agenda of the meeting is to answer the question, ‘which way Kanu?’, because we are not doing very well,” Mr Salat said recently.

He had been accused of rocking the Azimio boat from within after the coalition failed to endorse his quest for the East African Legislative Assembly position.